A Rare Delicacy

"This..." Luo Yunji was a little unwilling. After all, with this many people, if he had to share, he would definitely get to eat less.

"What is it?" Su Ru looked at her little disciple's hesitant expression and found her interest piqued. This expression really had not appeared much on her little disciple's face.

"No... nothing!"

But since Su Ru insisted, Luo Yunji could only, rather unwillingly, scrape away the black mud, revealing the glossy black "black-jointed bamboo" inside.

"This is 'black-jointed bamboo'? What's so special about this section of bamboo?" Su Ru grew even more curious and sized up the section of "black-jointed bamboo" in her little disciple's arms.

"There's something tasty inside!" Luo Yunji sniffed and replied in a small voice.

"Something tasty?" Su Ru was a little surprised. Thinking back now, she only then remembered that it seemed this little disciple of hers had mentioned something about meat earlier!

Luo Yunji, still somewhat unwilling, slowly split the bamboo open lengthwise, and a sweet fragrance immediately drifted through the room.

"It smells so good!" Tian Linger stared with shining eyes at the split "black-jointed bamboo" in Luo Yunji's hands. A clump of pink matter was showing inside.

"I can only give you half!" The little fatty really did cast everything else aside when it came to food, directly raising his voice to remind them.

Seeing the conflicted expression on the little fatty's face, all his senior brothers began to laugh under their breath. He really was a child. Could they possibly make things difficult for him over food? Or even snatch it from him?

"Hmph!" Tian Buyi was startled by his little disciple's sudden shout and glared over in displeasure.

Luo Yunji shifted closer to Zhang Xiaofan and called softly, "Little Senior Brother!"

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaofan hurriedly moved forward a little and half shielded the little fatty behind him. Seeing the interaction between her two little cubs, Su Ru directly covered her mouth and laughed, while Tian Buyi sent a huge eye roll flying out.

"All right! Half it is! Bring it here and let me have a look!" Seeing his precious little disciple's aggrieved appearance, Tian Buyi finally could not quite bear it and agreed.

Luo Yunji endured the pain and cut the food in his hands down the middle, splitting it into two. Then, hugging his own half, he dragged Zhang Xiaofan and ran out of the central hall.

Only after the two of them had left the central hall did Zhang Xiaofan realize what he had done. He hurriedly turned back and shouted toward the central hall, "Master, Master's Wife, this disciple takes his leave." This drew another round of muffled laughter from the senior brothers standing at the side in the central hall. But their attention was immediately drawn by the aroma of the food in the half bamboo shell Luo Yunji had left behind.

"It smells so good! Even better than just now!" Sixth Brother, who had always been in charge of preparing Big Bamboo Peak's meals, sniffed, walked over, picked up the bamboo shell from the floor, smelled it, then looked at the cut. He saw rings of food in different colors reflecting each other, their luster warm and gentle, while the layer at the very center had even oozed out rich, brown meat juices.

That meat looked sticky to the teeth, soft, and glutinous. Surely its texture would not be bad at all.

"I want to eat it! I want to eat it!" Just as Sixth Brother was still admiring it, Tian Linger rushed up impatiently and shouted.

"Well then! Sixth, divide it up and let everyone have a taste! Let's see what delicacy your little junior brother was so fixated on that he even ignored the first rule of our sect—respect for the teacher above all." Su Ru looked teasingly at the food in Sixth Brother's hands as she spoke.

At the side, Tian Buyi was still displeased over Luo Yunji running off without a word earlier. Now that Su Ru brought it up like this, he was too embarrassed to keep being angry.

"Yes, Master's Wife!" Then Sixth Brother went to the kitchen to find some plates and chopsticks, and divided that section of food among everyone in the central hall.

Leaving aside for the moment what the people in the central hall thought after eating that food, Luo Yunji, who had run back to his lodgings, immediately shut the doors and windows. Then, holding Zhang Xiaofan's hand, he walked quickly to the table and poured himself a cup of water.

Zhang Xiaofan also felt thirsty and poured himself a cup. After drinking it, he saw that his little junior brother's cup was empty and poured him another.

"Here! Eat quickly! Otherwise someone will come snatch it later!" Luo Yunji placed the food he had been carefully protecting in his arms on the table. White light flickered between his fingers, and with a series of "swish, swish, swish," he cut it into several pieces.

"I'm not hungry! Little Junior Brother, you eat it!" Zhang Xiaofan knew that his little junior brother had busied himself over this food for a long time, back and forth, and in the end Master and the others had even taken half of it. His little junior brother must be very sad. Even though the tempting fragrance made Zhang Xiaofan swallow his saliva, he still shook his head and refused.

"Senior Brother! You're so good!" Luo Yunji looked at Zhang Xiaofan in deep gratitude, then stretched out his chubby little paw, pinched up a piece, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Mmph!" A blissful moan. "So fragrant! So tasty!" Luo Yunji praised indistinctly.

Zhang Xiaofan swallowed, turned away from the table, and decided it was better not to look. He walked to a corner of the room, where the washing utensils had been placed. After spending the entire afternoon in the kitchen today, with Luo Yunji's personality, he would need to rinse off before sleeping!

Just as Zhang Xiaofan was trying hard to shift his attention elsewhere, a piece of food was stuffed into his mouth. The special pleasure that exploded across his taste buds made him freeze on the spot.

"How is it! It's good, right!" Before his eyes was his little junior brother's proud and delighted smiling face. Zhang Xiaofan, deeply moved, nodded hard.

"Senior Brother! Let's eat together!" As he spoke, ignoring Zhang Xiaofan's wishes, he directly dragged him over to the table, and the two of them began eating, one piece for you, one piece for me.

Zhang Xiaofan was too embarrassed to eat much. After only tasting two pieces, he stopped eating.

Luo Yunji knew this was Little Senior Brother yielding to him, and he felt very happy. He stretched out his chubby little paw, grabbed two pieces, and stuffed them toward Zhang Xiaofan's mouth.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiaofan did not refuse and opened his mouth to bite down on the food offered to him.

Both of them smiled, utterly satisfied and happy.

Very soon, the food was finished. Even though it was only half of the original portion, the bamboo joint chosen at the start had not been small. So even half of it, after the two of them shared it, still left them feeling somewhat full.

"Senior Brother, I feel like I ate a little too much!" Luo Yunji cried, rubbing his little belly.

"I'll go prepare the washing things. You rest for a bit first! I'll go to the kitchen and get some hot water too. We spent so long in the kitchen today, and we're covered in kitchen smell. Take a bath before sleeping!" Zhang Xiaofan said as he got up and tidied things.

"Mm-hmm!" This arrangement perfectly suited his little thoughts. Luo Yunji smiled in satisfaction like a little fox and kept nodding.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiaofan smiled too and worked even more energetically.

On Big Bamboo Peak, they slept well through the night.

The next day, as soon as Zhang Xiaofan opened the door, he saw Sixth Senior Brother standing outside, looking at him and smiling nonstop.

"Good morning, Sixth Senior Brother!"

"Morning, Xiaofan!" Sixth Brother's face was full of smiles. "How was that thing yesterday made?"

Sixth Brother was too lazy to beat around the bush and directly stated why he had come.

"Little Junior Brother made it!" Zhang Xiaofan thought for a moment, knew what Sixth Brother was talking about, and answered truthfully.

"That can't be right! That kid has never been in the kitchen. He knows how to cook? Xiaofan, you can't deceive your senior brother!" Sixth Brother did not believe Zhang Xiaofan's words at all.

"It's true! Little Junior Brother was holding a book and made it according to the method written inside."

"A recipe book!" At this moment, no one knew when Fifth Brother and Third Brother had arrived, but the two spoke in unison.

Xiaofan honestly nodded.

"Where is that recipe book? Is it still with Little Junior Brother?" The three senior brothers looked at Zhang Xiaofan with shining eyes.